Rapid, accurate, and cost-effective medical diagnosis, evaluation, and monitoring are important in patient care. Relatively recent requirements include the capability for local, remote, and in-transit patient assessments. Patients and victims of chemical or biological weapons may pose a health risk to medical personnel responsible for examination and diagnosis. Recent threats of world-wide viral epidemics, and chemical and biological acts of terrorism may require rapid correlation and identification of disease outbreaks and vectors, and a means of reducing particular dangers in the use of highly-trained medical personnel for exposure to wide numbers of patients during disease and injury screening, such as in a mass casualty situation.